


Thorough

by helsinkibaby



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Community: comment_fic, F/M, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 10:27:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4134054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhodey decides  to knock at Maria's door</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thorough

**Author's Note:**

> Comment fic theme: rare pairs  
> Prompt: MCU, Maria Hill/Rhodey, any

Rhodey is an inch away from sliding the key into the lock before he thinks better of it, slides it into his jacket pocket instead and knocks the door. He listens hard as he waits, knowing that she'll have recognised his knock, wondering if she'll open the door to him, how long he should stand here waiting before one of her neighbours sees him and gets the wrong idea and calls the cops on him. Thankfully, before he has too much time to think, he hears the first deadbolt being drawn back, then the second, then the tumblers fall in the lock and the door opens. 

Maria turns away from him before he can get a good look at her and he follows her in, frowning at the tension that he can see in her shoulders. "Let me guess," she says in her hard-as-nails, best SHIELD agent voice. "Pepper called you." 

He doesn't touch that, instead touches her, turns her gently to face him. He's expecting resistance but finds none and he winces as he touches her cheek, tilts her head towards him. "Damn, baby..." The epithet slips out unbidden but he doesn't miss the slight slump of her shoulders when she hears it, the way she leans in towards him, just a little. She'd never admit to anyone, and only admitted to him after a couple too many beers and a long dance between the sheets, that she actually quite liked hearing him call her that. Of course, she'd also told him that if he told anyone that, or slipped and called her that in front of anyone who knew them, she'd kill him with her bare hands and they both knew that she could. 

"It's nothing," she says and he bites his tongue against the snort of disgust that threatens to rise up in his throat because he'd call the livid black eye she's sporting many  things, but nothing is not one of them. 

"It looks nasty," he says. "And yes, Pepper called me. Why didn't you call me?" He keeps his voice gentle, but she bristles anyway, or, maybe, because of it. 

Taking a step back, Maria crosses her arms over her chest. "Why didn't you use your key?"

"Because I thought you mightn't answer the door." She blinks and he knows why, because it makes no sense on first listen. "If you didn't answer the door, you'd want to be alone." He shrugs. "Sometimes you need your space."

Her shoulders slump against at that and she huffs out a tiny laugh through lips so tightly pressed together that the edges are turning white. Shaking her head she reaches up and pinches the bridge of her nose. It takes a long time before she looks up to meet his gaze. "I thought you were in Israel."

"Lebanon." He corrects her with a smile, with a gentle touch to the shoulder. It's a test, to see how she'll react and she doesn't move, doesn't back away. "But that's not why you didn't call me."

"No."

"So, you gonna tell me why?" She looks away and he adds, "Not that I need an explanation..."

"Because it's embarrassing, Jim!" The words flow from her lips in an angry burst and he drops his hands, taken aback. "I'm a SHIELD operative, I know six different kinds of martial arts, my hands could be registered as actual lethal weapons." She shakes her head. "And I get a black eye when two crackheads double team me so they can steal my purse?"

She's angry, he realises, but not at him, not at Pepper. At herself. "Maria, it could have happened to anyone-"

He knows it's the wrong thing to say the moment the words leave his lips. "I'm not anyone." She grinds out the words through clenched teeth. "I have trained my whole life to not have this happen to me..."

"I know that." He holds his hands out, palms up. "And you know that's not what I meant."

She stands her ground for a long moment before nodding. "I know that." She looks up at the ceiling, takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "I never saw them coming... never heard them. I was thinking about the latest crap Tony's been pulling and I was distracted and the next thing I know, I'm on the ground, seeing stars." She pauses, wraps her arms around herself, her lips twisting in a smile that's almost bitter. "All this office work... I'm losing my edge."

Rhodey lifts an eyebrow. "I doubt that... from what Pepper tells me, you weren't down for long."

"No." A genuine smile suddenly tugs at the edges of her lips. "It didn't take them long to realise they picked the wrong woman."

He chuckles, decides to try touching her again, reaches out and closes his hands over her shoulders. It's a loose grip, one she could break if she wanted to but instead she takes a step closer to him. "That's my girl." He thinks he might have over-reached with that, until she reaches up and plays with the buttons of his shirt. "You know, I did come over to see how you are," he tells her, placing a kiss on her other cheek, the one that's not black and blue. "Kiss you better..." His kisses trail down her cheek to her jaw to her neck and he feels gooseflesh breaking out as she shivers. 

"You know that's not where I'm hurt, don't you?"

He lifts his head, meets her eyes with a smile. "Well, can't hurt to be thorough, right?" 

She loops her arms around his neck, gives him a look that almost makes him forget about the black eye. "I like the way you think." 

He hopes she likes him too, but he'll go with that. 


End file.
